The Scientist
by EveyM
Summary: Harry finds a picture of Lily in Sirius' bedroom. Why did he have it? And who was the girl next to her? Oneshot.


**disclaimer: all characters are from JKR, except Sephie. And Bear. And Miranda. And Regina. **

**Set after Sirius's death some time. **

_Come Up To Meet You, Tell You I'm Sorry. You Don't Know How Lovely You Are. I Had To Find You, Tell You I Need You. Tell You I Set You Apart. Tell Me Your Secrets, Ask Me Your Questions. Let's Go BAck To The Start. Running In Circles, Chasing Our Tails. Heads On A Science Apart. Nobody Said It Was Easy. It's Such A Shame For Us To Part. Nobody Said It Was Easy. Nobody Ever Said It Would Be This Hard. Take Me Back To The Start. I Was Just Guessing At Numbers And Figures, Pulling Your Puzzles Apart. Questions Of Science, Science Of Progress Do Not Speak As Loud As My Heart. Tell Me You Love Me, Come Back And Haunt Me. Oh And I'll Rush To The Start. Running In Circles, Chasing Our Tails. Coming Back As We Are. Nobody Said It Was Easy. It's Such A Shame For Us To Part. Nobody Said It Was Easy. Nobody Ever Said It Would Be This Hard.-"The Scientist", Coldplay_

Harry crouched down to the photo he saw on the floor of his godfather's bedroom and picked it up. It was Lily, laughing with another girl. The other girl looked like a less contrasted version of his mother, who's scarlet hair and green eyes stood out against her pale skin. The other girl had browny-red hair, green-grey eyes and tanned skin which almost blended against her hair. Harry scowled, wondering why Sirius had a picture of just his mother, starting to recognise the other girl but not sure where from. He placed it in his pocket and reminded himself to ask Lupin about it.

Lupin arrived that evening, and came to find Harry sitting on his godfather's bed, staring at the motorbike posters. He gave him a smile and sat beside him.

"Okay, Harry?" he asked, and Harry nodded mutely before placing his hand in his pocket.

"Why did Sirius have a picture of mum?" he asked, handing the picture to Lupin and wondering if Sirius was in love with Lily, too. Remus frowned and took the picture, and as he saw who was in it he smiled, nodding.

"Sephie," he said quietly, and Harry turned to him and saw the memories swim back into his eyes. "Who was Sephie?" he asked. Remus sighed, brushing some invisible dust off the photo as the girls laughed.

"Persephone...she was, well..." he paused, as if looking for the right word. "She was, to put it honestly, the love of Sirius's life."

Harry stared at the man beside him who was lost in the photo. "Where is she?" He asked stupidly, but suddenly wondering where she'd ended up while Sirius was in Azkaban.

"Oh, she...she died," Remus replied quietly.

Harry fell silent again. He thought for a moment, and realised where he recognised her from. She was next to Sirius in the Order photo. Moody had said she'd been killed..by Voldemort.

"Sirius had a girlfriend?" Harry asked, curious as to why Sirius had never mentioned her. Remus rolled his eyes. "Oh, no, Sirius was too naive and stupid to realise he was in love with her," he said affectionatly, before returning his eyes to the photo, searching it, and adding quietly, "She died before he had a chance to tell her."

Harry wanted to know more. Wondered what happened to her. "Was she friends with my mum?" He asked. Remus nodded and handed the photo back before getting up. "Where did you find this?"

Harry pointed to the floor under the desk, and Remus crouched down and picked up the box the had upturned in the corner. Several pieces of parchment and more photos fell out as he picked it up, smiling, and put everything back in. "Ah, I wondered where this would be."

Harry wondered why he hadn't noticed the box before, but he had searched in the dark and it was in a good hiding place. Remus searched through the parchments, his eyes lighting up as he saw certain things, and finally removed a photo and handed it to Harry, who recognised immediatly his mother and Persephone again. There were two other girls, one with curly blonde hair who was very beautiful, and one with long mousy hair who was smiling and blinking. "Mum's friends?" Harry asked dumbly, and Remus nodded. "Yeah, Miranda...that one there-" he pointed to the blonde- "she was my girlfriend for a bit." he mused for a second before continuing to shuffle through the box. "She moved to New Zealand after Sephie died, got away from it all. And Regina, she..."

Remus stopped again and thought painfully. "She was tortured by a couple of death eaters after James and Lily died. She killed herself while Sirius went to Azkaban."

Harry looked at the girls, all smiling, the only one to probably survive miles away. Harry glanced at the box. "I kept all these, after Sirius went away. Even though I didn't trust him, I couldn't bare to get rid of all this, not after what he went through."

"What was she like?" Harry asked, picking a photo out of the box that caught his eye- a young Sirius next to Persephone, Sirius in a suit and Persephone in a green dress in a park. His mother and father's wedding. Remus handed the box to Harry and reminisced as Harry shuffled through the notes. One had various words written in what looked like Ancient Runes, and was crumpled and smudged as if held for a long, long time.

"She was perfect for Sirius," Lupin said. "You already know what Sirius was like at Hogwarts- he could have any girl he wanted, and did. All the pretty blondes who batted their eyelids enough. But then he met Sephie..."

Harry found another note, in curled handwriting. _Sirius! Hope You're Having A Decent Christmas This Time. I'll Come Visit Soon, And Is Mrs. P Having A New Year's Ever Party? Lily Said Something About James Inviting Her And Needing An Escape Route. Anyway, I'll See You Tonight, Yeah? Is James Coming? Oh, You Won't Have Time To Answer I Doubt It So I'll Just Find Out All The Answers When I Get There. See You Later! Seph xxx_

Remus continued. "She was an animetomorphagi, and she-"

"What's one of those?" Harry asked as he found a random picture of two dogs-before realising one was Sirius. "That's her," Remus pointed to the white dog. "She was like...like Tonks, I guess. But she could turn into animals instead of change her appearance."

Harry's eyes widened, and Remus laughed. "Yeah, she helped the others become Animagi. That's why Sirius and her got on so well, they could go off galavanting. She was in Ravenclaw, her great grandfather was Newt Scamander, you know him?"

Harry nodded, remembering his Care of Magical Creatures textbook.

"She was a smart girl. She was one of the only girls in school to never fancy Sirius-apart from your mother."

Harry smiled, but then scowled. "She didn't like Sirius?" Harry wondered how his godfather dealt with unrequited love.

Remus scoffed. "Well, she didn't openly. All the other girls would swoon and go on about Sirius's new hair, or what he'd done that week. Sephie was one of the only girls to actually know Sirius. Well, know him better than an odd quickie in a broom cupboard."

"Why didn't they get together?" Harry asked. Remus rolled his eyes once more. "Sirius...well, he'd got so used to girls being these..well, playthings, that he thought because he cared for Seph, she could only be a friend. It was only when your dad made his wedding speech, Sirius realised what he felt for her was the same as what James felt for Lily. She died, that night."

"Why did Voldemort kill her?" Harry asked, full of so many questions he wouldn't have dared asked Sirius. Remus sighed. "Well, he found out she was animetomorphagi. Sirius blames Regulus. Decided he wanted Sephie for himself. Her family were away one week, and the death eaters came to her house. Luckily, Sirius was there. He had it pretty much sorted when me and James got there. That's how we made it into the Order."

He paused for a moment, watching Harry's eyes read another note, before continuing. "She went into hiding, stayed with Sirius."

"They lived together? And Sirius didn't realise he loved her?" Harry scowled. Remus nodded. "Yep. The two were pretty much married before Sirius had even asked her out, they had a dog and everything." Remus remembered. "Beautiful thing, kept Seph company while Sirius was at work. Of course, Bear knew Sirius loved Seph, and knew Seph loved Sirius."

Harry looked up at his companion. "She loved him, too, then?"

Remus shrugged. "Well, she never told anyone, but no one would put up with all the hassle Sirius brought unless they loved him."

Harry laughed. "Sirius was a bit of an idiot, wasn't he?"

Remus laughed. "A bit? Oh god. Everytime he and Seph had an argument at school, he'd go off and shag some girl to make Sephie jealous. I think it worked, but Sephie just yelled at hm and told him to grow up."

Harry laughed before Remus continued. "She got a boyfriend in sixth year. Jack Elwood. The only thing I've ever punched."

Harry looked at him, impressed. "Oh yeah, he was a right dickhead. When Sephie and he started going out, I don't think I'd ever seen a more miserable face at Hogwarts. Good god, Sirius looked like he'd just been told he looked like Snape. I think Jack said he didn't want them talking, though, he was a bit jealous. Well, he did have a good reason."

"Cos Sirius was so popular?" Harry picked up a note which said -_Meet me in the entrance hall in our free period. Please. X._

"Sirius kissed her!" Remus laughed. "Her and Jack had just started seeing each other, and Sirius took her somewhere to talk. The two ended up kissing before Sephie freaked out and left. I think that's why Sirius was so upset."

"What happened to Jack?" Harry asked. Remus shrugged. "Well, Sephie couldn't bare to hurt Sirius like that. He would storm out of lessons if his name was even mentioned. So, she ditched him." Remus laughed slightly. "Oh, Jack went nuts. Knocked James off his broom in Quidditch, so Sirius went mental."

Harry laughed.

"Jack managed to get two mates to hold Sirius down, but I reckon me and Sirius did more damage in two punches then they did in about seven. Jack Elwood had a broken nose and Sirius left with a black eye and that was it."

Harry smiled. "He sounds like a bit of an arsehole," he said, easily being able to imagine Sirius punching someone as up himself as Jack sounded. Remus nodded. "Oh, he was. But Sephie put him in his place- she was quiet usually, but when Jack called Sirius a name, she went crazy. Started yelling at him infront of the whole school one lunch time. Said Sirius was ten times a better person than Jack was."

Harry couldn't help but agree, even though he didn't know Jack. He looked at a small scrap of parchment, covered in the words _Persephone Black. _Over and and over.

"Wow, he did love her," Harry stated as he handed the parchment to Remus, who grinned. "Bloody idiot. He would've done anything for her. She wouldv'e done anything for him! They were inseperable. McGonagoll was ecstatic when Sirius and Sephie became friends, his transfiguration grades hit the roof. Lily was adamant the two would get married, but then, your mum was always a romantic. She had to be with James. But Sephie thought Sirius didn't like her. They were both stupid." Remus laughed sadly. "Both got themselves killed..."

Harry fell silent, mournful. He didn't know Sephie. But he felt like he missed her. Remus smiled weakly. "You know, if they'd both survived, I reckon we'd have had a few little Black's running around within a year of you."

Harry imagined it for a second, and it hurt. Imagined what it would be like if they'd all survived, and he'd grown up in Godric's Hollow, down the road from Sephie and Sirius and their kids. Or, even if Sephie had survived, if Sirius would stay out of Azkaban and Harry would live with them, with the dog they'd had, and Harry would have half- brothers and sisters. If Sirius would've had kids at all. He looked back at the picture of the two of them at his parent's wedding. The last to be taken of Sephie, he guessed. They were both grinning. It wasn't a proper wedding photograph. They weren't posing. Sirius was just walking beside her, his face happier than Harry had ever seen it, and Sephie was fiddling with her hair and looking at him. He imagined their kids would be stunners, they'd look just like Sirius. He imagined them at Sirius's house, them living together. Two nineteen year olds, in hiding.

"They managed to get it on, though," Remus broke the silence. "The night before James' wedding. He walked in to Sephie's room, looking for Sirius, and found the two of them in there together. The daft idiot should've realised then. He spent all day looking at her, telling her she was beautiful...Lily was so upset when she died. As upset as Sirius. Lily had alot of faith in Sirius, she saw him change for the good because of Seph."

Harry thought of all his memories of his godfather, and wished they'd both survived.


End file.
